Comments@THE GUSS REPORT-It’s Sunday morning, October 28th. And though the Los Angeles Dodgers face elimination in tonight’s Game 5 at Dodger Stadium against a better built and tougher Boston Red Sox team, the story might not end there.
Or it could all be a moot point by the time this column is published. So rather than writing about what’s happening on the field, did you notice these things happening outside the lines?
Among my friends and in the Twitter-verse, the most common complaint about this World Series (other than the consistently poor judgment of Dodger manager Dave Roberts) is that Fox Sports broadcaster Joe Buck, (photo above) the son of multi-Hall of Fame inductee broadcaster Jack Buck, refuses to stop talking. Even for a moment. In an almost nervous habit sort of way, Buck seems determined to obsessively fill every possible second with observations, too-complex statistics and idle chatter. Of the many hashtags it led to, the best was #ShutTheBuckUp.
And while this is the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest Dodger moments, namely Kirk Gibson’s walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, something Buck never learned from either his dad or the greatest sports broadcaster of all-time, Vin Scully, is this: there is beauty and elegance in a broadcaster knowing when to not speak.
Before we roll the video, do you care to guess how long Vin was silent as soon as Gibson crushed Dennis Eckersley’s pitch over the right field wall?
How about 1 minute and 8 seconds of magnificent silence from Scully and everything from the crowd.
And even then, after Scully’s famous words to break his silence, “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened,” he was silent for another half minute. He let us soak-in the thrilling moment.
The clip shows Gibson’s entire at-bat, which lasted 9:44. Enjoy the whole moment, or skip to the home run at 6:40 if you must. And if you re-watch it, note one of its hidden gems: as the ball sails over the outfield wall, look into the parking lot behind the stands as someone who apparently left the game early and may have been listening on their car radio, hit the brakes as Gibson made history.
Speaking of greatness, how awesome was it that the man who threw that pitch, Dennis Eckersley, participated in the ceremonial first pitch with Gibson prior to Game 4 on Saturday? It was poorly orchestrated by the Dodgers, who gave Gibson and bat – and glove? – and he didn’t really throw out the pitch with The Eck, but it was still a great moment.
But Eckersley, who accomplished everything a baseball pitcher could ever dream of, embraced the moment, and the Twitter-verse embraced him as nothing short of a class act. He didn’t run from that moment in history; he acknowledged it and reminded everyone what self-effacing graciousness is all about. And that even the best of the best have bad moments.
To wit, Eckersley had a 24-season Hall of Fame career, was a World Series champion, a Most Valuable Player, a Cy Young award winner, a six-time All-Star, and was both a 20-game winner as a starter and twice led the league in Saves as a reliever. He also threw a No Hitter on May 30,1977 that, aside from a first inning walk and a wild pitch third strike to Bobby Bonds, resembled a perfect game.
But on October 27, 2018, we were reminded that that the player-turned-broadcaster was one heck of a great guy who didn’t let ego get in the way of a celebration. If only Major League Baseball and Fox Sports showed all the ceremonial first pitches live
To others, the best moment outside the lines took place during Game 3 on Friday night – before the game stretched into Saturday morning (12:30 a.m. LA time and 3:30 a.m. in Boston) when Dodger rookie pitcher Walker Buehler walked off the field after a masterful performance, and the cameras showed him getting a standing ovation from two of LA’s greatest: Magic Johnson and Sandy Koufax.
That was the biggest thrill for me; when the legends get their groove on for a kid killing it on the big stage. Walker’s night ended on a high note, though the game stretched on to become the longest game in baseball playoff history, torturing baseball fans until the wee hours. By the way, did you notice the similarities between Dodger outfielder Cody Bellinger’s catch and throw double play on Friday and that of Joe Ferguson famously nailing Sal Bando during a day game in the 1974 World Series at Dodger Stadium?
First watch Bellinger.
Then watch Ferguson.
And finally, speaking of ending on a high note, can I just point out that in the last four years of Koufax’s career, his record was 97-27. He led the league in Earned Run Average in each of his last five seasons, racking up three more Cy Young awards, an MVP award and three no-hitters, one of which was a perfect game. If sports medicine had been what it is today, his career would have gone on far longer than his retirement at just 30 years of age.
The 2018 Dodgers could sure use Sandy this week.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. Join his mailing list or offer verifiable tips and story ideas at [email protected]. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
